Comments on: Iraquis, Bug Boys, and the Cycle of Hatred

By: Cliff

Cliff — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 19:56:55 +0000

M pretty much has it. I’m almost guaranteed to get hot under the collar at another ignorant remark and I’m likely to go off about such incidents on this blog and elsewhere. This post serves more as an acknowledgment of an end goal. After a couple of days of thinking about it, I realized that I’m not even 100% sure of what “turn the other cheek” actually entails. Does it mean we should not try to publicly correct false stereotypes about homosexuality, but rather let our examples serve as our retort? Does it mean we stand by if hateful speech gets tossed around in church meetings?

The one thing that I’ve decided that it means (for me, anyways) is that whatever our response, we should use love and understanding in our tone if we desire it to be used in relation to us. “Do unto others…” and all that business.

Now let’s see if I can put my money where my mouth is….

By: M

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 04:56:35 +0000

Kengo, sometimes people seem to come to terms with things easily in their writing because writing often demands closure, but the thoughts and feelings of the writer are likely to persist in some form even if it is as an undercurrent. My guess is that Cliff would most likely have similar feelings again if a similar comment were to come up again in Sunday School. In my world, writing is a way to discipline my thoughts and affirm in my mind how I would like to approach issues that are troubling or problematic to me. Of course, I don’t know Cliff, so I might be being presumptuous…

Anyway, what do you think? Or am I over analyzing? Sometimes I do that…

By: Kengo Biddles

Kengo Biddles — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 15:47:38 +0000

Cliff, all I can say is wow. I don’t usually come to terms with things like this as fast as you seem to have; and I have to say, I felt rather bothered by the Bug Boy and his closed mindedness. It’s hard to remember to do as you’ve said and turned the other cheek when people are so stubborn and mulish in their attitudes.

Thanks for the post!

By: Ezra

Ezra — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 23:09:29 +0000

I can’t say that I have had that specific experience, but I was once attending church in a small town Utah ward, and the teacher of the class (who also happened to be 1st Councilor) said “we shouldn’t be hating our neighbors–we should be hating those terrorists in the middle east”.

It was so unbelievable to me that such an obviously flawed statement could be uttered in a gospel doctrine’s class and not have a single person counter it.

Lately I feel like I’ve been loosing the battle–I skipped out on Sunday school today, because I didn’t want to be there–I felt alone.